Smoking set

ABSTRACT

A smoking set comprises: a heating cavity and a heater; a first detection module, being configured to detect whether an object exists at a first position in the heating cavity to output a first detection signal; a second detection module, being configured to detect whether an object exists at a second position in the heating cavity to output a second detection signal; a microcontroller, being configured to: acquire the first detection signal and the second detection signal; identify object situation in the heating cavity according to different combinations of the first detection signal and the second detection signal. According to the present application, object situation in the heating cavity is identified according to different combinations of the first detection signal and the second detection signal; and the heater may be controlled to start heating or be turned off according to the identification result.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent ApplicationNo. 202010061563.7, filed with the Chinese Patent Office on Jan. 16,2020, titled “SMOKING SET”, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of smoking sets, and inparticular, relates to a smoking set.

BACKGROUND

Smoking articles such as cigarettes and cigars burn tobacco to producesmoke during use. Attempts have been made to provide substitutes forthese tobacco-burning articles by producing products that releasecompounds without burning. Examples of such products are so-calledincombustible products which are incombustible when heated and releasecompounds by heating instead of burning tobacco.

Patent Publication No. CN209202153U discloses a control method for anelectronic cigarette and an electronic cigarette. When tobacco isinserted into the electronic cigarette, it will trigger a tobaccoheating signal, and the tobacco heating signal will control a tobaccoheating element to operate so as to bake the tobacco. Triggering modesof the tobacco heating signal include the following cases: after thetobacco is inserted into the cavity of the electronic cigarette, thetobacco presses a pressure sensor in the cavity of the electroniccigarette, and the pressure sensor detects the change in pressure togenerate the tobacco heating signal; or after the tobacco is insertedinto the cavity of the electronic cigarette, a capacitance sensor in thecavity of the electronic cigarette detects the change in capacitance togenerate the tobacco heating signal; alternatively, after the tobacco isinserted into the cavity of the electronic cigarette, the tobaccopresses a touch switch in the cavity of the electronic cigarette, andthen the touch switch is triggered to send the tobacco heating signal.

Problems of this scheme lie in that: when a foreign body falls into thecavity of the electronic cigarette, the tobacco heating signal will alsobe triggered to make the heating element start heating; and theelectronic cigarette cannot identify the presence of foreign bodies inthe cavity of the electronic cigarette.

SUMMARY

The present application provides a smoking set, which is intended tosolve the problem that the existing smoking sets cannot identify thepresence of foreign bodies in a heating cavity.

A first aspect of the present application provides a smoking set whichcomprises a heating cavity and a heater, the heater is configured toheat a smoking article removably placed in the heating cavity togenerate aerosol for inhalation; and the smoking set further comprises:

a first detection module, being configured to detect whether an objectexists at a first position in the heating cavity to output a firstdetection signal;

a second detection module, being configured to detect whether an objectexists at a second position in the heating cavity to output a seconddetection signal;

a microcontroller, being configured to:

acquire the first detection signal and the second detection signal;

identify object situation in the heating cavity according to differentcombinations of the first detection signal and the second detectionsignal.

For the smoking set provided according to the present application,object situation in the heating cavity is identified according todifferent combinations of the first detection signal and the seconddetection signal; and the heater may be controlled to start heating orbe turned off according to the identification result, thereby preventingforeign bodies falling into the heating cavity from wrongly triggeringthe heater to start heating, and improving user experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One or more embodiments are illustrated by pictures in correspondingattached drawings, and this does not constitute limitation on theembodiments. Elements with the same reference numerals in the attacheddrawings are shown as similar elements, and the pictures in the attacheddrawings do not constitute scale limitation unless otherwise statedparticularly.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a smoking set provided according toan embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a smoking set provided according to anembodiment of the present application.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a smoking set providedaccording to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a heater with a metal elastic sheetprovided according to an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to facilitate the understanding of the present application, thepresent application will be explained in more detail below withreference to the attached drawings and the detailed description. Itshall be noted that, when an element is expressed as “fixed to” anotherelement, it may be directly on another element, or there may be one ormore intervening elements therebetween. When an element is expressed as“connected” to another element, it may be directly connected to anotherelement, or there may be one or more intervening elements therebetween.Terms such as “up”, “down”, “left”, “right”, “inside”, “outside” andother similar expressions used in this specification are forillustrative purposes only.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used inthis specification have the same meanings as commonly understood bythose skilled in the art of the present application. In thisspecification, the terms used in the specification of the presentapplication are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments,and are not intended to limit the present application. The term “and/or”used in this specification comprises any and all combinations of one ormore related items listed.

As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 , an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a smoking set 10, which at least comprises a heater 11, aheating cavity 12, a first detection module 13, a second detectionmodule 14, a driving module 15, a cover member 16, an input module 17, aprompt module 18 and a microcontroller 19 which are arranged in thehousing.

The heater 11 is configured to heat the smoking article removably placedin the heating cavity 12 to generate aerosol for inhalation. The smokingarticle comprises an aerosol-forming matrix, which is used with thesmoking set 10 to volatilize at least one component of theaerosol-forming matrix.

The aerosol-forming matrix is a matrix which can release volatilecompounds capable of forming the aerosol. This kind of volatilecompounds can be released by heating the aerosol-forming matrix. Theaerosol-forming matrix may be a solid or a liquid or comprise solid andliquid components. The aerosol-forming matrix may be adsorbed, coated,impregnated or otherwise loaded on a carrier or support. Theaerosol-forming matrix may conveniently be a part of anaerosol-generating article or a smoking article.

The aerosol-forming matrix may comprise nicotine. The aerosol-formingmatrix may comprise tobacco, for example, a tobacco-containing materialcontaining a volatile compound with a tobacco flavor, and the volatilecompound with the tobacco flavor is released from the aerosol-formingmatrix when it is heated. A preferred aerosol-forming matrix maycomprise a homogeneous tobacco material, such as deciduous tobacco. Theaerosol-forming matrix may comprise at least one aerosol-forming agent,which may be any suitable and known compound or a mixture of compounds.During use, the compound or the mixture of compounds is conducive to theformation of stable aerosol, and is basically resistant to thermaldegradation at the operating temperature of the aerosol-generatingsystem. Suitable aerosol-forming agents are well known in the art andinclude but are not limited to: polyols such as triethylene glycol,1,3-butanediol and glycerol; esters of polyols, such as glyceryl mono-,di- or tri-acetate; and fatty acid esters of mono-, di- orpoly-carboxylic acids, such as dimethyl dodecanedioate and dimethyltetradecanedioate. The preferred aerosol-forming agent is polyhydricalcohols or a mixture thereof, such as triethylene glycol,1,3-butanediol and the most preferred glycerine.

The heater 11 may operate at a central heating mode (in which theperiphery of the heating body is in direct contact with theaerosol-forming matrix) and a peripheral heating mode (in which thecylindrical heating body wraps the aerosol-forming matrix), and theheater may also heat the aerosol-forming matrix by one or more of heatconduction, electromagnetic induction, chemical reaction, infraredaction, resonance, photoelectric conversion and photothermal conversionto generate inhalable aerosol.

The following description takes the case where the heater 11 is aninfrared heater as an example for illustration.

The infrared heater 11 comprises a base and an infrared electrothermallayer (not shown in the figure).

The base may be in cylindrical, prismatic or other column shapes, andpreferably, in a cylindrical shape. A heating cavity 12 is formed insidethe base, and the housing of the smoking set 10 has a via correspondingto the heating cavity 12, through which the smoking article may beremoved from or inserted into the heating cavity 12.

The infrared electrothermal layer is formed on the outer surface of thebase, the infrared electrothermal layer receives the electric power ofthe power supply through the electrode to generate heat, and at leasttransmits the generated heat to the smoking article inserted into theheating cavity 12 by infrared radiation.

Still referring to FIG. 3 , the first detection module 13 is arrangeddownstream (at the first position) of the aerosol flow direction(indicated by the dotted arrow in the figure) in the heating cavity 12,and the second detection module 14 is arranged upstream (at the secondposition) of the aerosol flow direction in the heating cavity 12. Thatis, the first position and the second position are spaced apart alongthe aerosol flow direction in the heating cavity 12, and the firstposition is located downstream of the aerosol flow direction and thesecond position is located upstream of the aerosol flow direction.

In this example, the first detection module 13 comprises a lightemitting diode 131 and a photosensor 132, which are arranged face toface along the transverse direction of the heating cavity 12. The seconddetection module 14 adopts an ultrasonic sensor. Reference may be madeto the prior art for the principle or working mode of the sensor, andthis will not be further described herein.

The first detection module 13 is configured to detect whether an objectexists at the first position in the heating cavity 12 to output a firstdetection signal.

The second detection module 14 is configured to detect whether an objectexists at the second position in the heating cavity 12 to output asecond detection signal.

The microcontroller 19 is configured to:

acquire the first detection signal and the second detection signal;

identify object situation in the heating cavity 12 according todifferent combinations of the first detection signal and the seconddetection signal.

The identification results may include the following four situations:the object in the heating cavity 12 is a foreign body; the object in theheating cavity 12 is a smoking article but the smoking article is notinserted in place in the heating cavity 12; the object in the heatingcavity 12 is a smoking article and the smoking article has been insertedin place in the heating cavity 12; and there is no object in the heatingcavity 12.

As an example, it is assumed that: when the first detection signal is ata high level, then it means that there is an object at the firstposition in the heating cavity 12; and when the first detection signalis at a low level, then it means that there is no object at the firstposition in the heating cavity 12. This equally applies to the seconddetection signal.

When the first detection signal and the second detection signal acquiredby the microcontroller 19 are (1, 1), it may be determined that theobject in the heating cavity 12 is a smoking article and the smokingarticle has been inserted in place in the heating cavity 12. The first“1” in the brackets indicates that the first detection signal is at ahigh level (if it is “0”, then it indicates a low level), and the second“1” in the brackets indicates that the second detection signal is at ahigh level (if it is “0”, then it indicates a low level). This equallyapplies to the following description, and thus will not be furtherdescribed herein.

When the first detection signal and the second detection signal acquiredby the microcontroller 19 are (1, 0), it may be determined that theobject in the heating cavity 12 is a smoking article, but the smokingarticle is not inserted in place in the heating cavity 12.

When the first detection signal and the second detection signal acquiredby the microcontroller 19 are (0, 1), it may be determined that theobject in the heating cavity 12 is a foreign body.

When the first detection signal and the second detection signal acquiredby the microcontroller 19 are (0, 0), it may be determined that there isno object in the heating cavity 12.

Therefore, object situation in the heating cavity 12 is identifiedaccording to different combinations of the first detection signal andthe second detection signal; and the heater 11 may be controlled tostart heating or be turned off according to the identification result,thereby preventing foreign bodies falling into the heating cavity 12from wrongly triggering the heater 11 to start heating, and improvinguser experience.

It shall be noted that, it is also feasible if the identification resultis one, two or three of the above four situations.

It shall be additionally noted that, in order to avoid the abnormalfluctuation of the first detection signal or the second detection signalacquired, multiple times of acquisition may be performed for processing.For example, if the first detection signal output by the first detectionmodule 13 fluctuates between “1” and “0” when a foreign body falls intothe heating cavity 12 (when the foreign body passes through the firstdetection module 13, “1” is output; and after the foreign body passesthrough the first detection module 13, “0” is output), then themicrocontroller 19 may perform acquisition and determination again aftera preset time to avoid the fluctuation.

Specifically, in an example, the microcontroller 19 is furtherconfigured to:

control the heater 11 to be turned off when the object in the heatingcavity 12 is a foreign body, or when the object in the heating cavity 12is a smoking article but the smoking article is not inserted in place inthe heating cavity 12, or when there is no object in the heating cavity12.

In an example, the microcontroller 19 is further configured to: generateprompt information when the object in the heating cavity 12 is a foreignbody, or when the object in the heating cavity 12 is a smoking articlebut the smoking article is not inserted in place in the heating cavity12, or when there is no object in the heating cavity 12.

The smoking set 10 further comprises:

a prompt module 18, being configured to receive the prompt informationand prompt the user that there is an abnormality.

In this example, the user may be prompted by means of vibration, sound,light or other means that the user can perceive, and this is notparticularly limited herein.

In an example, the microcontroller 19 is further configured to:

control the heater 11 to start heating when the object in the heatingcavity 12 is a smoking article and the smoking article has been insertedin place in the heating cavity 12.

In this example, when the identification result of the microcontroller19 for the object situation in the heating cavity 12 is that the objectin the heating cavity 12 is a smoking article, it means that the smokingarticle has been inserted into the heating cavity 12 and inserted at thesecond position in the heating cavity 12, and at this time, the heater11 may be controlled to start heating, and it is unnecessary for theuser to manually control the heater 11 to start heating.

Further speaking, in this example, the microcontroller 19 is furtherconfigured to:

acquire the first detection signal and the second detection signalagain; determine whether the smoking article still exists in the heatingcavity 12 according to the first detection signal and the seconddetection signal acquired again;

control the heater 11 to stop heating if the smoking article does notexist in the heating cavity 12.

In this case, it may be determined that the smoking article has beenremoved from the heating cavity 12, so the heater 11 is controlled tostop heating.

Still referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 , in an example, the smoking set 10further comprises:

a cover member 16, being configured to cover or open the heating cavity12;

a driving module 15, being configured to receive the control of themicrocontroller 19 and drive the cover member 16 to move to cover oropen the heating cavity 12.

In this example, the driving module 15 comprises a motor and a gear, thecover member 16 is a sliding cover, and the sliding cover is providedthereon with a rack matched with the gear. Under the control of themicrocontroller 19, the motor drives the gear to rotate, and therotation of the gear drives the rack to move so that the sliding covermoves left and right to cover or open the heating cavity 12. FIG. 2shows the case where the cover member 16 covers the heating cavity 12;and FIG. 3 shows the case where the cover member 16 opens the heatingcavity 12. It shall be noted that, the driving module 15 and the covermember 16 are not limited to the above situations.

In an example, the smoking set 10 further comprises:

an input module 17, being configured to receive an opening instructioninput by a user to generate an opening signal, or receive a closinginstruction input by a user to generate a closing signal.

The microcontroller 19 is further configured to:

receive the opening signal, and control the driving module 15 to drivethe cover member 16 to move according to the opening signal so that thecover member 16 opens the heating cavity 12;

or

receive the closing signal, and control the driving module 15 to drivethe cover member 16 to move according to the closing signal so that thecover member 16 covers the heating cavity 12.

In this example, the input module 17 is a key. In other examples, theinput module 17 is not limited to a key, and for example, it may be atouch screen, a voice-controlled input device, or the like.

In an example, the microcontroller 19 is further configured to:

control the driving module 15 to drive the cover member 16 to move sothat the cover member 16 covers the heating cavity 12 when there is noobject in the heating cavity 12.

In this example, when there is no object in the heating cavity 12, thedriving module 15 is automatically controlled to drive the cover member16 to move, so that the cover member 16 covers the heating cavity 12 toprevent foreign bodies from falling into the heating cavity 12.

Still referring to FIG. 4 , in an example, the second detection module14 is implemented by a metal elastic sheet. When the smoking article isinserted at the second position in the heating cavity 12, the smokingarticle will exert a stress on the metal elastic sheet, which results indeformation of the metal elastic sheet. The deformation may be convertedinto an electrical signal by a conversion circuit, and then theelectrical signal is acquired by the microcontroller 19.

It shall be noted that, the first detection module 13 and the seconddetection module 14 are not limited to the situations described above.

In an example, the first detection module 13 and the second detectionmodule 14 may be sensor devices with varying resistance values whichsense the position of the smoking article through the change ofresistance values. The sensor devices with varying resistance valuesinclude but not limited to pressure resistors, inductive resistors,resistive film matrix, thermistors, photoresistors, airflow switches,and coil windings.

In an example, the first detection module 13 and the second detectionmodule 14 may be signal transmitting and receiving devices, which sendout signals to detect the position information of the smoking articleand feed the position information of the smoking article back to thesignal transmitting and receiving devices. The signals sent by thesignal transmitting and receiving devices include but not limited toinfrared rays, radar waves, microwaves, ultrasonic waves andcommunication waves (radio waves, optical fibers, WIFI and quantumwaves).

In an example, the first detection module 13 and the second detectionmodule 14 may be mechanical switch devices which are electricallyconnected with a detection circuit. When the smoking article touches themechanical switch device, the detection circuit is turned on/off. Themechanical switch devices include but not limited to micro-switches, keyswitches, elastic sheet switches, spring switches, membrane switches,toggle switches, pull switches, rotary switches and magnet switches.

In an example, the first detection module 13 and the second detectionmodule 14 may be strain sensors or pressure sensors.

It shall be noted that, the specification and attached drawings of thepresent application show preferred embodiments of the presentapplication. However, the present application can be implemented in manydifferent forms, and it is not limited to the embodiments described inthis specification. These embodiments are not construed as additionalrestrictions on the content of the present application, but are providedfor a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of the disclosure ofthe present application. In addition, the above technical featurescontinue to be combined with each other to form various embodiments notlisted above, all of which are regarded as within the scope described inthe specification of the present application. Further speaking, those ofordinary skill in the art can make improvements or variations accordingto the above description, and all these improvements and variationsshall fall within the scope claimed in the appended claims of thepresent application.

1. A smoking set, comprising a heating cavity and a heater, the heaterbeing configured to heat a smoking article removably placed in theheating cavity to generate aerosol for inhalation; the smoking setfurther comprising: a first detection module, being configured to detectwhether an object exists at a first position in the heating cavity tooutput a first detection signal; a second detection module, beingconfigured to detect whether an object exists at a second position inthe heating cavity to output a second detection signal; amicrocontroller, being configured to: acquire the first detection signaland the second detection signal; identify object situation in theheating cavity according to different combinations of the firstdetection signal and the second detection signal.
 2. The smoking setaccording to claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is further configuredto: control the heater to be turned off when the object in the heatingcavity is a foreign body, or when the object in the heating cavity is asmoking article but the smoking article is not inserted in place in theheating cavity, or when there is no object in the heating cavity.
 3. Thesmoking set according to claim 2, wherein the microcontroller is furtherconfigured to: In Reply to International Application of Jan. 15, 2021generate prompt information when the object in the heating cavity is aforeign body, or when the object in the heating cavity is a smokingarticle but the smoking article is not inserted in place in the heatingcavity, or when there is no object in the heating cavity; the smokingset further comprises: a prompt module, being configured to receive theprompt information and prompt the user that there is an abnormality. 4.The smoking set according to claim 1, wherein the microcontroller isfurther configured to: control the heater to start heating when theobject in the heating cavity is a smoking article and the smokingarticle has been inserted in place in the heating cavity.
 5. The smokingset according to claim 4, wherein the microcontroller is furtherconfigured to: acquire the first detection signal and the seconddetection signal again; determine whether the smoking article stillexists in the heating cavity according to the first detection signal andthe second detection signal acquired again; control the heater to stopheating if the smoking article does not exist in the heating cavity. 6.The smoking set according to claim 1, wherein the smoking set furthercomprises: a cover member, being configured to cover or open the heatingcavity; a driving module, being configured to receive the control of themicrocontroller and drive the cover member to move to cover or open theheating cavity.
 7. The smoking set according to claim 6, wherein thesmoking set further comprises: